Board of Finance Chairman Joe Tarzia in a meeting at the Government...

Joe Tarzia speaks at a news conference in the parking lot of the Ponus Yacht Club in Stamford, CT held to discuss the closing of the Brewers Boat Yard and its effects on Stamford on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011.
Photo: Shelley Cryan

Joe Tarzia speaks at a news conference in the parking lot of the...

L to R: Bob Kolenberg, Joe Tarzia and George Stadel speak at a news conference in the parking lot of the Ponus Yacht Club in Stamford, CT held to discuss the closing of the Brewers Boat Yard and its effects on Stamford on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011.
Photo: Shelley Cryan

L to R: Bob Kolenberg, Joe Tarzia and George Stadel speak at a news...

The Board of Ethics holds its second hearing in the complaint city human resources generalist Tania Barnes filed against Republican Board of Finance Chairman Joe Tarzia at the Government Center in Stamford, Conn., Monday, January 10, 2011.

Tarzia, a polarizing longtime finance board member, has maintained for years that the allegations of ethical misconduct lodged against him were part of a conspiracy to force him from public office. Mayor Michael Pavia and other city officials have firmly denied orchestrating Tarzia's ouster, but 3-year-old emails show strong support among city officials for his departure.

"Got home and there was a message to call Ed Rosett of Stone Wall Drive," Board of Representatives Republican Minority Leader Gabe DeLuca wrote in an email to Pavia on Feb. 14, 2011 -- four days before Tarzia's resignation. "He feels sorry for you with the Tarzia issue -- wants to know how we get rid of him. Told him we were discussing this issue this evening and talked about Charter revision."

Charter revision refers to the decennial review of the city's governing document. In November, Stamford voters approved nine changes to the city Charter, including a measure that limited the Board of Finances' investigatory powers to "matters of fiscal policy."

Reached earlier this month, DeLuca said he did not remember writing the email and could not recollect whether he discussed Tarzia's departure from the finance board prior to his resignation.

Pavia said he does not remember receiving DeLuca's email. He denied participating in a conspiracy to remove Tarzia from office and refused further comment.

"I get about 25,000 emails a year and that's one I don't remember receiving," Pavia said. "I'm not going to contribute to this story."

Tarzia said efforts to remove him from the Board of Finance began shortly after the mayor's election in November 2009. Pavia's campaign manager, Michael Larobina, stopped by Tarzia's home and asked him if he'd be interested in a clerk of the works job with the city.

"At the beginning the game plan was simple," Tarzia said. "Let's offer Joe a job, hide him away somewhere. They figured everyone has a price. When that failed, they figured, `Ok let's get rid of him.'"

Larobina, who later joined Pavia's cabinet as Corporation Counsel, confirmed the conversation although he said he could not remember exactly when it took place.

"That's quite a long time ago," Larobina said Thursday. "There were discussions about a clerk of the works position."

There are more than a dozen clerk of the works employed in Stamford, the majority of which oversee construction projects for the Engineering Department. The position is non-unionized; employees are given an hourly wage and do not receive benefits, sick days or vacation time. Workers are awarded three-year contracts, with hourly pay generally ranging from $29 to $37 an hour.

Tarzia, a retired teacher, said he turned down the job offer. From his seat on the Board of Finance, Tarzia maintained a short-lived political alliance with the mayor. When the six-member board deadlocked on its leadership election in December 2009, Pavia cast the deciding vote that made Tarzia chairman.

But the relationship between the two Republicans quickly soured. Within a year, Pavia would testify against Tarzia at a Board of Ethics hearing and the finance board chairman would accuse the mayor of lying under oath.

In spring 2010 the long-dormant Board of Ethics received a flurry of ethics complaints and convened public hearings on two cases. The grievances, lodged by Fleet Manager Michael Scacco and former Human Resources Generalist Tania Barnes, accused Tarzia and two other Republican city officials of harassment, retaliation and attempting to interfere with the disciplining of city employees.

"It has been continual, constant and relentless," Scacco wrote in his complaint. "This is an extremely stressful and hostile environment."

Emails between Barnes and Scacco show the two city workers shared notes on their ethics complaints, which they lodged in April and May of 2010.

"Here is the final version," Barnes wrote to Scacco on May 19, 2010 -- the day before he filed his grievance against Tarzia. "I'm sorry it took so long, but I had to depend on others to help me finalize it. I think this is a really good complaint."

Tarzia and his attorney, Joe Sargent, said the reference to "others" shows the ethics complaints were a coordinated effort between city employees and officials to remove the finance board chairman from his democratically elected position.

"These people were trading ethics complaints with each other in the hallway," Sargent said.

Barnes referred The Advocate to her attorney, David Golub, who said there was nothing improper about Scacco and Barnes' communication.

"Mr. Scacco had never filed an ethics complaint before and asked Ms. Barnes to help him finalize his complaint," Golub wrote in an email. "The Ethics Board conducted an independent investigation and found probable cause for each complaint. Anyone who knows Mr. Tarzia knows that if he thought he did nothing wrong, he would never have resigned and would have fought the two complaints to the bitter end."

Scacco's attorney, Lewis Chimes, said Scacco filed his ethics complaint of his own volition several weeks after Barnes lodged her grievance.

"He spoke to Tania Barnes and her husband, Ben Barnes, the former City Director of Operations about how to file the complaint properly, but the allegations were entirely his own," Chimes wrote in an email. "There was nothing improper or nefarious about this."

Tarzia battled the ethics complaints for nearly a year, during which time he lodged a federal lawsuit against the city, filed several ethics complaints of his own and issued multiple Freedom of Information requests.

"I could have resigned right away and it wouldn't have cost me anything," he said. "But that would have been what they wanted."

Tarzia continued to lead the Board of Finance with his signature confrontational style, unleashing unrelenting criticisms of Pavia's administration and considering all department funding requests with hostile suspicion. Emails show his polarizing manner irritated his fellow elected officials, including many from his own Republican Party.

"He is totally out of control," Board of Representatives Republican Scott Mirkin wrote about Tarzia in a July 28, 2010 email to former Director of Administration Fred Flynn and city Rep. Mary Uva, R-1.

"The Board of Finance should mind its own business or it should go," city Rep. Harry Day, R-13, wrote in a January 31, 2011 email. "We have to make it easier, not more difficult, to run this City!"

By January 2011 the mayor and Board of Representatives were openly criticizing the finance board, which they accused of overstepping its authority and purposely interfering with the city's daily operations.

"The budgetary and appropriation process, now in its critical season, is threatened because certain members of the Board of Finance have ventured into areas where the Board has no legitimate interest," Pavia said in a February 11, 2011 news release.

A few days later, Board of Representatives President Randy Skigen drafted his own news release in support of the mayor's statement, which he circulated among the board's membership. Tarzia said the emails prove the mayor's administration cooperated with the Board of Representatives leadership to force him off the Board of Finance.

"The Board of Representatives leadership made this unholy alliance with Pavia a while ago," Tarzia said. "Pavia got away with it because the other side went along with it -- Skigen and the leadership."

Skigen denied conspiring against Tarzia.

"I'm unaware of any efforts by the mayor to remove Mr. Tarzia from the Board of Finance," he said.

By February 16, 2011 Tarzia's legal bills totaled $100,000, he said. He withdrew his federal lawsuit against the city in exchange for a $45,000 legal settlement and resigned from the finance board.

The damage to Tarzia's reputation resonated with voters, who for the first time in more than 20 years did not elect him to the Board of Finance when he attempted to regain his seat in November 2011. Of the seven candidates vying for three open seats, Tarzia finished second-to last. The Democrats swept the election and now control the Board of Finance.

Tarzia blames the controversy with the ethics board for his political downfall. Stamford voters, rather than political manueverings, should control who serves city government, he said.

"There's no doubt in my mind I would have still been on the Board of Finance," Tarzia said. "I was always the top vote-getter. They obviously knew what they were doing when they conspired to get rid of me."

Tarzia, a polarizing longtime finance board member, has maintained for years that the allegations of ethical misconduct lodged against him were part of a conspiracy to force him from public office. Mayor Michael Pavia and other city officials have firmly denied orchestrating Tarzia's ouster, but 3-year-old emails show strong support among city officials for his departure.

"Got home and there was a message to call Ed Rosett of Stone Wall Drive," Board of Representatives Republican Minority Leader Gabe DeLuca wrote in an email to Pavia on Feb. 14, 2011 -- four days before Tarzia's resignation. "He feels sorry for you with the Tarzia issue -- wants to know how we get rid of him. Told him we were discussing this issue this evening and talked about Charter revision."

Charter revision refers to the decennial review of the city's governing document. In November, Stamford voters approved nine changes to the city Charter, including a measure that limited the Board of Finances' investigatory powers to "matters of fiscal policy."

Reached earlier this month, DeLuca said he did not remember writing the email and could not recollect whether he discussed Tarzia's departure from the finance board prior to his resignation.

Pavia said he does not remember receiving DeLuca's email. He denied participating in a conspiracy to remove Tarzia from office and refused further comment.

"I get about 25,000 emails a year and that's one I don't remember receiving," Pavia said. "I'm not going to contribute to this story."

Tarzia said efforts to remove him from the Board of Finance began shortly after the mayor's election in November 2009. Pavia's campaign manager, Michael Larobina, stopped by Tarzia's home and asked him if he'd be interested in a clerk of the works job with the city.

"At the beginning the game plan was simple," Tarzia said. "Let's offer Joe a job, hide him away somewhere. They figured everyone has a price. When that failed, they figured, `Ok let's get rid of him.'"

Larobina, who later joined Pavia's cabinet as Corporation Counsel, confirmed the conversation although he said he could not remember exactly when it took place.

"That's quite a long time ago," Larobina said Thursday. "There were discussions about a clerk of the works position."

There are more than a dozen clerk of the works employed in Stamford, the majority of which oversee construction projects for the Engineering Department. The position is non-unionized; employees are given an hourly wage and do not receive benefits, sick days or vacation time. Workers are awarded three-year contracts, with hourly pay generally ranging from $29 to $37 an hour.

Tarzia, a retired teacher, said he turned down the job offer. From his seat on the Board of Finance, Tarzia maintained a short-lived political alliance with the mayor. When the six-member board deadlocked on its leadership election in December 2009, Pavia cast the deciding vote that made Tarzia chairman.

But the relationship between the two Republicans quickly soured. Within a year, Pavia would testify against Tarzia at a Board of Ethics hearing and the finance board chairman would accuse the mayor of lying under oath.

In spring 2010 the long-dormant Board of Ethics received a flurry of ethics complaints and convened public hearings on two cases. The grievances, lodged by Fleet Manager Michael Scacco and former Human Resources Generalist Tania Barnes, accused Tarzia and two other Republican city officials of harassment, retaliation and attempting to interfere with the disciplining of city employees.

"It has been continual, constant and relentless," Scacco wrote in his complaint. "This is an extremely stressful and hostile environment."

Emails between Barnes and Scacco show the two city workers shared notes on their ethics complaints, which they lodged in April and May of 2010.

"Here is the final version," Barnes wrote to Scacco on May 19, 2010 -- the day before he filed his grievance against Tarzia. "I'm sorry it took so long, but I had to depend on others to help me finalize it. I think this is a really good complaint."

Tarzia and his attorney, Joe Sargent, said the reference to "others" shows the ethics complaints were a coordinated effort between city employees and officials to remove the finance board chairman from his democratically elected position.

"These people were trading ethics complaints with each other in the hallway," Sargent said.

Barnes referred The Advocate to her attorney, David Golub, who said there was nothing improper about Scacco and Barnes' communication.

"Mr. Scacco had never filed an ethics complaint before and asked Ms. Barnes to help him finalize his complaint," Golub wrote in an email. "The Ethics Board conducted an independent investigation and found probable cause for each complaint. Anyone who knows Mr. Tarzia knows that if he thought he did nothing wrong, he would never have resigned and would have fought the two complaints to the bitter end."

Scacco's attorney, Lewis Chimes, said Scacco filed his ethics complaint of his own volition several weeks after Barnes lodged her grievance.

"He spoke to Tania Barnes and her husband, Ben Barnes, the former City Director of Operations about how to file the complaint properly, but the allegations were entirely his own," Chimes wrote in an email. "There was nothing improper or nefarious about this."

Tarzia battled the ethics complaints for nearly a year, during which time he lodged a federal lawsuit against the city, filed several ethics complaints of his own and issued multiple Freedom of Information requests.

"I could have resigned right away and it wouldn't have cost me anything," he said. "But that would have been what they wanted."

Tarzia continued to lead the Board of Finance with his signature confrontational style, unleashing unrelenting criticisms of Pavia's administration and considering all department funding requests with hostile suspicion. Emails show his polarizing manner irritated his fellow elected officials, including many from his own Republican Party.

"He is totally out of control," Board of Representatives Republican Scott Mirkin wrote about Tarzia in a July 28, 2010 email to former Director of Administration Fred Flynn and city Rep. Mary Uva, R-1.

"The Board of Finance should mind its own business or it should go," city Rep. Harry Day, R-13, wrote in a January 31, 2011 email. "We have to make it easier, not more difficult, to run this City!"

By January 2011 the mayor and Board of Representatives were openly criticizing the finance board, which they accused of overstepping its authority and purposely interfering with the city's daily operations.

"The budgetary and appropriation process, now in its critical season, is threatened because certain members of the Board of Finance have ventured into areas where the Board has no legitimate interest," Pavia said in a February 11, 2011 news release.

A few days later, Board of Representatives President Randy Skigen drafted his own news release in support of the mayor's statement, which he circulated among the board's membership. Tarzia said the emails prove the mayor's administration cooperated with the Board of Representatives leadership to force him off the Board of Finance.

"The Board of Representatives leadership made this unholy alliance with Pavia a while ago," Tarzia said. "Pavia got away with it because the other side went along with it -- Skigen and the leadership."

Skigen denied conspiring against Tarzia.

"I'm unaware of any efforts by the mayor to remove Mr. Tarzia from the Board of Finance," he said.

By February 16, 2011 Tarzia's legal bills totaled $100,000, he said. He withdrew his federal lawsuit against the city in exchange for a $45,000 legal settlement and resigned from the finance board.

The damage to Tarzia's reputation resonated with voters, who for the first time in more than 20 years did not elect him to the Board of Finance when he attempted to regain his seat in November 2011. Of the seven candidates vying for three open seats, Tarzia finished second-to last. The Democrats swept the election and now control the Board of Finance.

Tarzia blames the controversy with the ethics board for his political downfall. Stamford voters, rather than political manueverings, should control who serves city government, he said.

"There's no doubt in my mind I would have still been on the Board of Finance," Tarzia said. "I was always the top vote-getter. They obviously knew what they were doing when they conspired to get rid of me."